At the heart of the debates during the preliminary hearings of the genocide trial in Israel, the defense focused on the violence of the October 7 attacks. Chilling videos and audio recordings were presented to a captivated audience.
Israel says it takes measures to protect civilians, such as issuing evacuation orders before each strike. The country blames Hamas for the high number of civilian casualties, arguing that the group uses residential areas to carry out attacks and other military activities.
However, critics of Israel say these measures are not enough to prevent the high number of civilian casualties and that the bombings are often seen as indiscriminate or disproportionate attacks.
The strikes target areas designated as secure zones by the Israel Defense Forces.
South Africa’s Minister of Justice, who heads the country’s delegation, strongly supports the South African position.
“Today we heard Israel’s so-called justification before the ICJ. Some of the arguments put forward are astounding and are not supported by facts and the situation on the ground,” Ronald Lamola said.
“Israel suggests that the Genocide Convention is primarily intended for its protection and, therefore, it would be incapable of violating its own provisions. The State of Israel has failed to refute South Africa’s strong argument. South which was presented before the court yesterday,” Lamola added.
Israel says South Africa’s demand to immediately end the fighting in Gaza amounts to an attempt to prevent Israel from defending itself against the attack.
Even when acting in self-defense, countries have an obligation under international law to respect the rules of war, South Africa argued.
Judges will have to decide whether Israel has complied with or violated its obligations as stipulated in the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, which it signed in 1949.
Israel generally boycotts international tribunals and UN investigations, viewing them as unfair and biased.
But this time, Israeli leaders took the rare step of sending a high-level legal team, a sign of the importance they attach to the case and very likely their fear that a court order aimed at suspending operations would deal a major blow to the country’s international reputation.
Israeli legal adviser Tal Becker told a conference in The Hague that the country was fighting a ‘war it did not start and did not want’.
“In these circumstances, there can hardly be a falser and more malicious accusation than the accusation against Israel of genocide,” he added, stressing that the horrific suffering of civilians in wartime is not enough to make this accusation.
“Israelis cannot understand how they can be accused of genocide,” read a headline in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz.
Polish-Jewish jurist Raphael Lemkin was the one who introduced the word “genocide” in 1944 and pushed tirelessly for it to be added as a crime in international law, according to the Holocaust Encyclopedia.
Ofer Cassif, a member of the Knesset (Israel’s Parliament), was targeted for possible expulsion from the legislative body on Monday after saying he would support South Africa’s genocide case before the International Court of Justice. Justice.
In his January 7 statement, Cassif said: “My constitutional duty is to Israeli society and all its inhabitants, and not to a government whose members and coalition call for ethnic cleansing or even actual genocide.”
The 1948 Convention reads as follows:
Genocide means any of the following acts committed with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group: Killing members of the group; cause serious harm to the physical or mental integrity of members of the group; deliberately inflict on the group living conditions likely to result in its total or partial physical destruction; impose measures intended to prevent births within the group; forcibly transfer children from the group to another group.
ICJ judges
ICJ President Joan E. Donoghue said the court would rule on the request for urgent measures “as soon as possible.”
Joan E. Donoghue, president of the International Court of Justice, said the court would rule on the request for urgent measures “as soon as possible.”
On pages 82 and 83 of its request, South Africa formulated nine interim orders that it asks the court to grant, including an “immediate” end to the military campaign in Gaza.
A decision on the merits of the case could take years.
A panel of 15 judges from around the world, as well as a judge appointed by Israel and a judge appointed by South Africa, could take several days or even weeks to issue a decision on preliminary measures.
The fifteen current members of the court are:
– President Joan E. DONOGHUE of the United States of America.
– Vice-President Kirill GEVORGIAN of the Russian Federation.
– Peter TOMKA from Slovakia.
– Ronny ABRAHAM from France.
– Mohamed BENNOUNA from Morocco.
– Abdulqawi Ahmed YUSUF from Somalia.
– XUE Hanqin of the People’s Republic of China.
– Julia SEBUTINDE from Uganda.
– Dalveer BHANDARI from India.
– Patrick Lipton ROBINSON from Jamaica.
As we see, the genocide trial in Israel provokes strong reactions and is the subject of intense debate. The ICJ’s decision will be eagerly awaited and could have a significant impact on the international political and legal situation.